Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-11
ENGLISH PRISONS.
How Penal Institutions are
Conducted Abroad.
QUARTERS OF PRISONERS.
The System of Punishment in Eng
land Comedies with the System
in this Country.

present subject of interest to all wht
read the telegraphic columns of thu
HERALD, few lines on the mode o
maintaining discipline in the Englisf
prisons may not he amiss at this mo
ment.
The prisons provided for criminals
where sentence is less than one yea
are four in number; Newgate, Hol
loway, Wandsworth and Pentonville
For those whose sentence ranges from
one year upward, and these individu
ais are termed convicts as a distlng
uishing name there are fourteen maJol
establishments for their accommoda
tion, besides host of local prisons
where county cases are received
Without exception, these prisons arr
placed in charge of retired army ano
navy officers, and bringing with then
as they do their education of discipline
Is inculcated by military training, the
fact follows that order is enforced
with an iron hand. In the city pris
ons, where the inmates are charged
with minor offenses and sentenced tt
a term of say, six months with hard
labor. any symptoms of refractoriness
are at once followed by an order OF
'bread and water for the offending
party." for a number of days, vary
ing according to the nature of his Of
fense. This generally has a very
noticeable effect even on the most
stubborn of individuals. The ordinary
fare is scarcely palatial, consisting as
il does of a plate Of oatmeal soup
or skilly for breakfast, meat, potatoes
and bread for dinner and bread and
coffee for supper, but even this menu
appears like fare fit for the gods to the
unfortunate being who slowly munches
his eight ounces of dry bread, and
washes it down with pint of water,
and, having thus disposed of his
breakfast, looks into the dim, dark
vista of the future, and beholds his
tory repeating itself, at A P. M, after
which he is locked up for the night,
in company with book of common
PRAYER and tract or two, which he is
supposed-and generally does, for the
want of something else-to take an in.
terest in until the curfew bell orders a
retreat to his little pallet on the floor
Should this mode of punish.
ment prove Intellectual, there
are the great charms OF the
dark cell, where he is docked to One
meal day, and has naught to do but
commune with himself in his solitary
blackness until the expiration of his
punishment restores him to the ligh'
Of day again. There are few who car
hold out after sequestration in darl
cell, as AZ hours solitary confinement
in a dungeon where not one ray o
light can penetrate, will make the mos
refractory and stubborn individual a
docile and as harmless as child
Should, however, there be a case s,
hardened as to be uninfiuenced by
these experiences, there is an instru
ment of torture which on special anC
necessary occasions is brought intC
use, and that is
THE "CAT."
There is nothing that is more dread
ed within a PRISONS walls. Those
who have once felt its fesh-tearing
strokes will seldom run the chance ot
encountering the torture again
while those who have not wor.
shipped at its shrine, but have
either had its horrors recounted
to them, or perchance sat within
a cell and heard the shrieks of a vic.
tim as he writhed beneath its terrible
blows-these men will shun it as they
would death itself. 1t should be men.
toned, however, that nowadays the
"cat" is seldom called into requisition
as its decline dated from the day when
the Parliament passed a resolution
that it should be used only in extreme
cases. For wife-beating, an unusually
cruel assault, rape and such charges
it is used as punishment to the Of
fender, and it ever hangs like the
sword of Damocles, warning to those
who approach the boundary line
which they cannot cross without en-
countering it.
HARD LABOR.
In the prisons of Clerkenwell and
and Pentonville, in London, the SEN
tence OF hard labor includes picking
oakum and walking the treadmill.
This is mentioned to introduce the
statement that at Clerkenwell the
prisoners have half an hour ON the
treadmill and then fifteen minutes
reading the Bible, then more tread
mill and more Bible, and SO on, alter
nately. In Pentonville, however,
after thirty minutes perambulation
on the treadmill, the unlucky wight is
compelled to pick oakum during his
interval of rest in lieu Of reading the
sacred book. In consequence Clerk
enwell ranks much higher in pris-
oner's estimation than Pentonville
does, and it is well-known fact that
all the graduates from the Clerken-
well institution, after they have had
an experience OF about six months,
have generally fair smattering of the
holy book. 1t is common thing
among the criminal element of Lon
don to hear big, burly rufiian, with
probably a bruised face or black eye,
interspersing his conversation with
quotations from the first book of Mat.
thew. the fifth OF John and 80 on
The writer can call to mind one
individual who had barely the ele
ments of a common education-ir
fact he belonged to the lowest crimi
nal class. This man, however, coult
recite whole passages from Shake
speare, quote from the Bible, and was
familiar with a good many of the
standard works of literature. He hat
Jearned it all in prison, from books
lent him by the authorities, and h'
devoted bis spare time during an in
carceration Of five years to studying
from the works in his possession witt
. result that would make many pub
lie school graduate writhe with envy
DARTMOOR.
The Dartmoor convict prison il
Deyonshire is the retreat to which
ssI;fers, and those sentenced for Ions
= - -. aout II ia q large tract q